A handle may be secured to the door by means of a conventional square section spindle which cooperates with a mortice lock. In a known embodiment a screw passes through a hole in the handle and engages a threaded hole in the spindle. GB-No. 1,541 573 (Lilley) discloses the use of a spindle having a tapered end portion. The handle has a socket to receive the tapered portion of the spindle and a grub screw extends through threads formed in the handle to engage the tapered surface of the spindle. In such a way, the handle and spindle may be easily adapted to fit doors of differing width. It has hitherto proved impossible to fit a ceramic handle to such a spindle. Other handle and spindle assemblies having plastics clip on handles are known See for example GB-No. 1345,962, GB-No. 1,345,963 (Micro and Precision Mouldings Limited) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,588,221 (Miller et al). Secondly, the handle may be secured to a threaded bolt which passes through the door. This is often used to secure handles to e.g. cupboard door. For this purpose, the handle may include a threaded socket to receive the bolt, or in the case of a ceramic handle, may be formed with a nut to engage the bolt. Such a connection is ugly and unreliable.
Other assemblies for providing threads within sockets of e.g. door knobs are known See for example, GB-No. 679,997 (United Carr Fastener Corporation), GB-No. 894,020 (Carr Fastener Company), U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,920 (Dobrjanskyj et al).
It is also known to locate about the hole in the door, a plate to conceal the opening through the door and the screw holes, such that the neck of the handle abuts the plate. The plate may be made of metal or other materials and this invention is particularly concerned when the plate is made of a ceramic material, so as to harmonise with the ceramic handle. Such a plate is known in the UK as a rose.